Forbidden Union
by Elven Jedi Katia
Summary: The feared daughter of a Dark Jedi takes on a mission that will ultimately lead to her destiny.


**A FORBIDDEN UNION**

(Prequel to Katia's Quest)

_By_

_JediKatia_

The metal hallway of the ship was deserted except for the sound of footsteps striding briskly down it. The footsteps were feminine but resounded with a heavy purpose nonetheless. Even the hall seemed to shrink in fear of the sound of those steps. Suddenly, the footsteps came to a complete halt. They had found their destination at last and, with a few bleeps of a keypad and the whoosh of the opening door, the footsteps continued inside.

"Father!" came a young woman's powerful voice. The whole room seemed to shudder by the mere sound of her voice, let alone what her appearance in the room seemed to invoke.

She was a beauty and no one on that ship would ever deny that. In fact, every man's dream of being the next to command that ship always included having her by his side. The one drawback to such a fantasy was the one thing they all wanted more than the ship, and that was Sapphira. She was as cold as she was beautiful. The only sign that she had warmth in her being was when she was with her father, whom she both loved and admired very much.

"Father," she repeated as she continued to walk towards a high-backed chair that was situated at the far end of the ship's bridge.

"Yes, my daughter," boomed a man's deep voice from the other side of the chair. He, too, rendered fear in the very depths of those around him. He turned his chair towards the sound of the voice and stood up so that he could walk to the middle of the bridge's long hall platform and meet his daughter. She strode up to him and, only when she had met him, did she speak again.

"It's all ruined, father," she cried, "They knew we were coming. Somehow they knew. It was a battle that we had no hope of winning." Her deep blue eyes looked up at her father, brimming with tears of anger and pleading for him to do something about this outrage.

Instead, he looked down at her and smiled in an uncharacteristically caring and sympathetic way. He was of the Dark Arts, that much was true, but he knew of love and adoration and those emotions were spent solely on his daughter. She was his pride and joy, his only child, and he loved doting on her.

"Now, now, Sapphira," he said calmly as he put a hand under her chin and held it gently. It was as if he knew all along that this would happen. Perhaps it had been a test of his; conducted to flush out an enemy that was among them. "You and I are both aware of how this happened." He took her shoulder and turned her around. His hand was now guiding her chin so that she could see each and every being in the room. "Look, Sapphira," he whispered into her ear. "Can you see it? Can you feel it? We have a traitor in our midst."

The young woman scanned the entire area with both her sparkling blue eyes and her sharply attuned senses. There was a fear in all the beings in the room but none compared to the one man that she now focused on.

"You," she mouthed silently to the man that was looking back at her, quite horrified. He seemed to be sweaty and pale and unnerved about something. Her eyes, although very cold, seemed to be boring a searing hole right through him.

"Ahh, found him already, did you?" he said, a sinister yet pleased grin crept upon his face.

"Yes," she growled. She never took her eyes off of the man. Likewise, he just sat there looking back, feeling as though he wanted to bolt from his seat to the door. He had known all along that his plan would be risky but he only hoped it had worked for what he needed it for. Otherwise, his death would be in vain, and he knew that if he were discovered, he would die.

"Good," her father whispered in her ear. He was stroking her long, raven black hair as he continued to whisper in her ear. "Now then, since you have found him, what do you want to do with him?"

"I want to hurt him for what he's done. I want him to suffer horribly and I want him to die," she answered in a soft but incredibly icy tone.

"Yes," he said with an excited satisfaction. "You make me proud, Sapphira. You truly are your father's daughter." With that, he snapped his fingers and gestured for two sinister, ugly men to come before him. "We shall delay no more," he told her as they arrived.

"How may we be of service to you, Lord Lucien?" both men asked in unison, topping off their question with a low bow.

"My daughter wants to go and play," he told them with a malicious grin. "I want the two of you to escort her new playmate down to the chamber."

"Yes, my lord," they answered once more in unison. After the Dark Lord had pointed the man out to them, they fitted him with restraints and took him away.

Lucien turned to his daughter. "Now, you go and have fun."

"Oh, I will, father…I will."

Sapphira walked back down that cold, metal hallway. She was once again alone which was how she preferred it to be. Her mind was steadily churning through various ideas for her own amusement. She walked into the turbolift that had brought her up to the bridge of the ship and pressed the button that would return her to a lower level of the ship. As the door closed, so did her eyes. This had become a sort of ritual with her. She loved how the fastness of the turbolift felt through her senses. The heart fluttering feeling of weightlessness that quickened her for just a brief moment before recalling her to reality again. The ride was always over too quickly for her wanting but she adored it nonetheless.

Just as she knew they would, the doors to the turbolift slid open, revealing a darker hallway. Three forms waited close to the opposite end for her arrival. Her footsteps were only a dull thud here and the hall itself seemed to welcome her. Here in the bowels of the ship, no sound would carry and no help would come. Those above would not know the torture that this man was about to go through, for they would never hear his agonizing cries for help.

Every step that Sapphira took, the figure in the middle shrunk a little lower until, when she paused about halfway down, he finally gave in and sank to his knees. Inwardly she smiled at his fear but outwardly she remained as calm and cold as the metal that surrounded her here. Her face seemed to be that of pure boredom. It was almost as if this was an everyday occurrence for her.

She resumed her short journey to the end of the hall where the three men waited anxiously. The two men standing were Lucien's henchmen. They had seen Sapphira's work before and feared her. Still, they stood rigidly by and waited for her next orders.

"You two," Sapphira said loudly upon her approach. The two men jerked at the sound of her voice and stood even more rigid than before. "I know that neither of you like my methods and I do not wish for the two of you to stay this time. Therefore, after you have secured him to the table, you may leave for 3 standard hours. After which time you will return and collect what remains of him."

The two men swallowed hard and silently nodded their head. They knew now that this was not to be a simple torture session. They had never born witness to the horrible fate that awaited this man, nor did they want to be. Pulling the man to his feet, they dragged him into the room and, as he was pulled in, he noticed something strange in the room. On the far wall there were two doors. They were not large but they were noticeable. He wondered what purpose they served in this place.

One of the two men pressed a button located by the door, causing a table and control pad to rise up from the ground. The table ascended vertically and when it reached its full height, the two men proceeded to move the man into place and fasten him to the cold, sterile steel table. Then, without uttering so much as one word, they left the room.

A moment later, Sapphira came sauntering into the room. She strode right up to the man, pressing her firm, svelte body right up against him and placing her right hand gently up against the left side of his face. She brought her face so close to his that her lips were almost touching his. In that moment, all his fear vanished. Her beauty consumed him. All he wanted to do is to grab her and kiss her. He wanted to kiss away all the bitter coldness and hate that resided in her heart and oozed out through her eyes.

"It truly is a shame that someone so handsome was put up to something so ugly as this," she commented as her fingernails drew gentle lines down his cheek. "Of course, you probably volunteered eagerly for such a mission." As her hand dropped from his face, she moved her head closer to him. Her cheek touched his and she whispered in his ear. "I bet you never volunteered for this."

She turned around and walked away, circling towards the control panel. Along the way, Sapphira flicked her left hand at the door and it immediately shut and locked. From behind the control panel Sapphira grinned demonically. At her disposal were a variety of knobs, dials, and buttons. She pressed and held one of the buttons. It was one of the mildest functions as all it did was change the table to a horizontal position.

When she was satisfied with the table's position, Sapphira let go of the button. She lifted her head and looked at him.

"Let's start out mildly, shall we?" she asked and pressed another button.

From out of a side panel came an interrogation droid. It floated over and hovered beside the man. He had only to glance at the droid to realize what it was. The truth serum was nestled on one side of it and, in an instant, he had been injected with the entire amount. Almost immediately afterwards, he began to shake and his fingers curled, fingernails scratching against the table, in a feeble attempt to find something to hold onto.

"Yes, you may go now," Sapphira told the droid, whose lights were now flashing urgently. The droid left in an instant back through the panel in which it came. It was apparent that the droid did not want to be there any longer than it had to. It was even more apparent why a few minutes later when his symptoms had gotten worse. He was sweating and his head was turning sharply from one side to the other. He felt so sick right now. How was this mild, he wondered.

"Don't worry," she continued, looking down at the man now, "those nasty side effects will soon go away. You see, that is my own concoction: truth with a side of agony. But, trust me, what you are going through is a breeze compared with what you will be experiencing. Just relax now. Don't fight it. You'll find it all goes quicker if you just give in to it."

She let the serum work through his body for a few more minutes before she spoke again. In the meantime, she watched calmly as he suffered the effects of her "concoction" until she felt the time was right to begin.

"Now, I am going to ask you some questions and you are going to answer them. Are you ready?"

"Y-yes," he answered, straining to try to keep what he could hidden. He feared that his internal battle was lost before he had even begun but he felt that he had no other recourse but to try.

"Good," Sapphira commented, smirking at the strain in his voice. "Let's start out with something simple. What is your name?"

"D-Deacon Sk-Skywell."

"Ah. You see Deacon? That really wasn't so hard," she cooed soothingly. "Now I'll ask you the next question. Who put you up to this?"

He was straining again. He was trying so hard to combat this thing within him. Growls were escaping his lips as he attempted to close his mind. If he could only do that one thing, it would be so simple not to say anything. If only….

"Who put you up to this?" she asked sharply.

"N-No one did. I v-volunteered."

"Touché," she replied softly, a smirk forming on her face. "Let me rephrase that question. Who was it that asked for volunteers for this mission?"

"G-G-G…" He was straining again. "General Lontak."

"And, what was this mission? Why did you volunteer for General Lontak?"

Deacon bit his lip. He refused to answer. She wouldn't drag what he knew about that out of him, not if he could help it. His hands balled in tight fists and he fought the restraints with all his might. If he could have, he would have broken those restraints and headed straight for the door without a plan and without a thought other than he was free. All those thoughts swam in his head but they were only dreams.

"I'm still waiting," Sapphira said, the frustrated undertones in her voice quite apparent.

"I…will...not...tell...you," was his response. The slow, choppy response owed, in whole, to his concentration and shallow breathing.

"Your stubbornness is starting to bore me. Tell me what I want to know."

"No!"

"I am tired of this! Now, answer my question!" She yelled at him and slammed her hand down on the control panel.

Deacon started convulsing as electricity coursed through his body. The fight in him slowly melted away and he couldn't think of anything but wanting the pain to stop. The agony of the electricity opened his mind too much and, before he knew what he was doing, he said the word "Jedi".

"What!" Sapphira exclaimed questioningly. Her hand lifted off of the button and she stared at him wide-eyed. "The Jedi?"

Realizing that he was broken, he told her what he knew. "All I know is that the mission is to protect a band of training Jedi."

"Where are these Jedi?"  
"I don't know."

"You lie!"

"I swear to you. I do not know. They wouldn't tell me because of my mission here."

Sapphira thought about it for a moment. Then it hit her.

"Of course," she said as if it were a sudden revelation. "So, they are clever after all. They only told you what you needed to know in case you found yourself in the situation that you are in right now. I should have known."

Pushing a few buttons on the control panel, it started to vanish back into the floor. The table on which Deacon was bound was shrinking as well. Soon, it was flush with the floor itself. He found himself wondering what sort of torture she could inflict from such a position. What he was about to hear would never have entered his mind.

"Well, Deacon," she said as she walked over and knelt down beside him. Her hand teasingly caressed his face as she spoke to him. "I feel as though I have wasted many standard hours of my life on you, and I hate when I waste hours on an insignificant cause. Therefore, in order for me to feel as if I have accomplished something, I'm afraid that I must finish this session with a little help from my friends." Sapphira stood up and clapped her hands twice.

The two doors, which Deacon had seen when he entered this room, slid open. He heard clicks resounding on the metal floor, the doors sliding closed in the meantime. His eyes concentrated on Sapphira. She was smiling in an adoring manner.

"Come here, you two," she called sweetly. Suddenly, Deacon had the worst feeling in the pit of his stomach and he could only stare wide-eyed at the two creatures that took their place by her side and now stood so near to him. He stayed still, his heart even seemed to stop, and he felt so helpless. He knew his fate was in Sapphira's hands and, even more likely, these creatures' jaws.

"You haven't seen these creatures before or, at least, not in the same vicinity. You never will again, I can promise you that. They were orphaned and I raised them together from an extremely young age. They grew up like brother and sister. They love me and I love them. Those that are in your position, however, they do not have any love for. Well, except for…ah, you'll find out soon enough."

"What are those creatures?" he asked, trembling slightly.

"Oh, where are my manners?" she asked teasingly. "This is Abby and she is a Sand Panther," she continued, stroking the animal with her right hand. "And, this is Laudy and he is a Vornskr." Her left hand stroked the other creature. "Now, in only a couple of moments, your restraints will release you and the exit door will unlock. If you can get to the exit before my pets get to you, then you are free to leave. If, however, my pets get to you first…well, you can imagine what will happen to you then. Of course, your third alternative is to stay where you are. My pets will not attack you if you do not move. I do hope you choose wisely."

Deacon began to think. The creatures, he saw, were lying down and it would take them a second to get back on their feet. He could use that time to get to the exit, which looked so close that he felt he could almost touch it. Staying still wasn't an alternative forever.

As his brain continued trying to come up with solutions, he felt the restraints unlock and heard them as they disappeared into the floor. The door had unlocked also. His heart raced but he took no immediate action. The first thing he did was to slowly move his head to look at the creatures. They appeared to be asleep already and it lulled him into a foolish sense of security.

He waited a bit longer and then made his move. Silently, he rolled over to his stomach and waited. When he looked again, they still seemed contented. 'This will be a breeze,' he thought to himself, 'I wonder why she is letting me go so easily.' He only contemplated that for a second before he slowly got to his feet. Still, neither the Vornskr nor the Sand Panther moved. He looked at Sapphira and saw a dark smile on her face. 'I don't understand. She seems so confident that she will win here and yet her pets are fast asleep.'

He thought that he would continue the slow pace. It seemed to be working very well. Then, he took a step and the tide turned against him. The whole room reverberated with the sound of that step. The floor underneath him was so hollow that every step anyone took made a loud sound. He had not paid attention to it when he was brought in.

That one, solitary footstep brought Sapphira's two pets to attention at no time at all. All he could do now was run as fast as possible and that's what he did. Both the Vornskr and the Sand Panther took off and, right as Deacon reached the door, the Sand Panther's claws sunk into his sides and he went down. The Vornskr was next, sinking his sharp teeth into the flesh between Deacon's neck and shoulder, and dragged him back to the middle of the floor.

Deacon was screaming in agony. The poison from Abby's claws was beginning to course through his body and the flesh of his shoulder had ripped from Laudy's sharp teeth. The creatures didn't stop there. They began to rip flesh from his body and he was still alive, all the while screaming and trying to fight them off. They had not been taught to be merciful with their prey.

Blood splattered all over the room, not even sparing Sapphira with its touch, but she remained as calm as ever. She simply watched the bloody mutilation that was occurring in front of her with an expression no different than that of a person watching a round of holochess. Finally, the screaming stopped and Sapphira smiled. She left her pets to finish up, walking gracefully out of the room.

She began the short journey back to her room. Each foot stepping in front of the last one. She was suddenly aware of how spent she was after that interrogation and couldn't wait to get back to her room. She stepped into the turbolift and pressed the button to her floor. Seconds later, the door opened and she made her way robotically down to her room and went right inside.

Sapphira walked out of the refresher, a loose robe tied around her, and sat down on her bed when she heard a knock on her door.

"Come in," she told the person and the door slid open.

"Is everything taken care of?" asked the deep voice of her father, Lucien.

"Yes, father, it is."

"Good," he said, sitting down next to her. "I have another mission for you, and this one you must start right away."

"Oh, father, no. Please, let one someone else take care of this."

"No. No one else can do this but you."

"But, father…"  
"But nothing, Sapphira," he said sternly. He took her face in his hands. "My daughter, I have always been so proud of you and I know this will be no different."

Sapphira sighed. She knew that there was no way she could get out of this mission of his.

"Alright. What am I to do?"

Lucien smiled at his daughter. "You are to take a shuttle from here to Coruscant. From there, you will find the liaison to the Jedi that will take you to their temple."  
"What! You can't honestly expect me to…"  
"Yes, I do. You're the only one who can."

"But…" she started to object again, but swallowed her words. His eyes, so obsessed and so eager, that she knew anything she said besides a confirmation would be empty to him.

"Fine," she finally answered, looking away before he could see the tears that rose in her eyes, "I shall do the task that you have appointed to me."

"And you will accomplish it, Sapphira. You will, once again, make me proud." He put a hand on her shoulder and she quickly shrugged it off, standing up and walking a few steps away from him.

"If you'll excuse me, I need to pack," she said coldly, refusing to turn around and look at him.

"Sapphira…"

"Please, father, no more talk now. As soon as I pack, I will be leaving."

"Very well, my daughter, I will leave you alone to do what you need."

Lucien stood up and stared at her back, wanting her to turn around, wanting to reach out to her, but he couldn't. Maybe it was pride, or perhaps it was a twinge of guilt, the kind only a Dark Jedi knows. Either way, Lucien said nothing. He finally looked away and headed toward the door. Sapphira sensed the sudden swirl of emotion and decided to call him on it.

"Then don't," she said, appealing to the emotions she had just felt. "Don't send me. Not this moment, at least."

"We have already discussed this, Sapphira, and I'm not going to talk another round with you."

"But, father, I truly do have a bad feeling about this mission. Something doesn't feel right. You know that I would…"

"Quit your sniveling, Sapphira," Lucien snapped. "I expect you to board that shuttle in ten standard minutes."

Sapphira looked at her father, her eyes widening in their sockets. She could not believe how cruel he had just been. This man, who had coddled her and held her in his arms. The same man who had always made things better, who had made her feel safe and protected, was now snapping at her as if she were only a mere peon aboard his ship.

Her face grew expressionless. Her mind was quiet and soon she was totally emotionless. Her eyes were cold and, though she was looking at him, it looked as if she was staring straight through him.

"Yes…Lord Lucien," she said with a bow, mimicking one of his servants all too well. "As you wish." With that, Sapphira turned around and continued to pack.

Lucien sighed, his heart falling within his chest. He hated what he had just done, but he refused to take it back now. He had spoken his orders to her and they would be obeyed. Silently, he turned around and left her alone in her room while she packed. He walked out into the hall and let the door close behind him before he turned around. He placed a hand softly on the door and whispered, "I'm sorry." A tear seemed to catch in his eye but it was soon gone as he strode briskly down the corridor.

At the same moment that the door closed, Sapphira collapsed on her bed and buried her face in her pillow, tears streaming into it as she sobbed her disbelief away. "I hate him. I hate him," were the words that managed to escape from between her sobs, "why won't he listen?" She couldn't explain what it was that she was feeling, not to herself let alone to her father. She just knew it was wrong for her to go and it hurt that he wouldn't even take the time to consider what she sensed as a warning.

As instructed, it was ten standard minutes later when Sapphira walked into the docking bay. She would soon board the shuttle that would take her away from her father. She still had that feeling in her heart that something wasn't right. It felt as if she would never see her father again but still she couldn't warm herself up to him. There would be no smile, no embrace, and even the fiery sparkle that usually resided in her eyes, full of love for her father, was extinguished.

"Sapphira," Lucien said as he walked down the pathway to meet his daughter. "Punctual as always." He stopped directly in front of her and put his hands on her slender shoulders. "And as lovely as ever." Motioning for the shuttle's pilot and instructed him to take her bags to the ship.

After that had been done, he bent down to give Sapphira a kiss on her forehead. It was a ritual that they had started each time one of them departed. The kiss created a sort of connection with one another until the time that the other returned safely. This time, however, things were different. Just as he was about to meet her forehead with his lips, Sapphira snapped her head to the left and looked away from him. The entire assembly seemed to swallow hard and fidget nervously at her sudden gesture.

"Sapphira, please," he implored her, clearly not wanting to leave things like this. He was now getting a taste of the cold beauty that was his daughter and he didn't like it.

"No," she snapped, her lips pursed slightly.

"Don't do this," he said softly.

"I have to," she said so softly that it was almost a whisper. "Now, please," she continued a bit louder, "step aside. I must board my ship now."

"No. Not without…"

"Yes," she said, cutting him off with both her words and her eyes. "Without." With her head still turned, Sapphira's eyes bore straight into her father's. "Without that gesture that means so much to us because clearly I don't mean that much to you."

"You can't honestly think that."

"No, father, I don't think that. I know it," Sapphira replied. "You are sending me on this mission despite my objections, turning a deaf ear to my warnings. That is your downfall, my doom, and it will mean the death of us both. Nothing will be the same ever again."

She pushed past him and began to walk towards the ship. "I will send you reports as I can, Lord Lucien," she called out callously as she walked up the boarding ramp.

Looking back to her father, Sapphira closed her eyes. The pain was evident in her face and became even more obvious when she opened her eyes and let loose a tear that rolled slowly down her cheek. She kept her eyes on her father until the ramp completely closed, cutting them off from each other. Then, she slowly walked away, retiring to her quarters and preparing for the journey ahead of her.

Lucien watched her leave, his heart breaking with every word she spoke. He stood there, now regretting his decision, but still refusing to take it back. He kept telling himself that she was paranoid and what she felt wouldn't come to pass, but her convictions were creating strong doubt in his mind. He saw the tear roll down her cheek and a realization washed over him. 'What have I done?' he asked himself.

When the ramp closed completely, Lucien's heart broke completely. The fear of her words set in. He had lost his daughter, his beautiful little girl, his heart and soul. The pain of it was unbearable and he found tears swelling up in his own eyes, unable to stop them from flowing down his face. He turned and faced the assembly of people.

"What are you looking at?" he growled. "Back to work, all of you!"

Then, he stormed out of the docking bay and retired to his room, there to stay until he sorted things out.


End file.
